But then there now new questions about affordability. And the headline news is that nationally housing affordability is strong — although dropping, according to the latest numbers from the National Association of Realtors. Danielle Hale, NAR director of housing statistics, elaborated that affordability is declining, slightly, as prices nudge up faster than incomes.

But housing affordability varies astronomically from town to town. That’s according to the latest data from HSH.com, a mortgage research company. The real question is: can you afford to live where you want to?

Here’s the bad news. In San Francisco, according to HSH.com, household income has to be $ 142,448 to be able to afford the median home. The National Association of Home Builders calls the broad San Francisco-San Mateo-Redwood City metropolitan area “the nation’s least affordable.” It claims that just 11.1 percent of households earn enough to afford the median home.

By contrast, in Pittsburgh HSH.com said a household income of $ 31,716 will qualify to buy a median home. Minimum wage in Pennsylvania is $ 7.25. Do the math on a hypothetical couple earning minimum wage and logging 40 hour work weeks. They earn $ 30,160. That tells you how affordable a really affordable town is.

But you don’t want to live there? Second on the HSH.com list of cities where a household needs the most income to buy is San Diego at $ 95,433. In third place is Los Angeles, where it takes $ 89,665 to qualify for the median home.

“The biggest run up in prices has been predominantly in the West,” said NAR’s Hale. “Affordability in the West has been hampered, primarily in California.” In addition, Seattle and Denver also had growing affordability issues.

For fourth place, HSH.com jumps cross-country to New York City, where a would be buyer needs $ 87,536. Note: that means a house in the metropolitan area and that includes the Bronx, Jersey City and Newark. Dream on about buying a home in Manhattan. (Realtor Douglas Elliman pegged the 2014 average selling price for a Manhattan apartment at $ 1.68 million and, using the NAR guideline that buyers can qualify for a home that is four times their income, that puts needed household income over $ 400,000.)

Why are coastal cities so pricey? Case-Shiller spokesperson Craig Lazzara mused that land availability is minimal and building restrictions are often daunting in towns like San Francisco and Manhattan. To boot, well-heeled foreigners — often from China and Russia — are seeking safe harbors for their money, and they have shown a strong preference for a handful of coastal towns with good international flight connections.

Don’t give into despair. Look inland instead, where HSH.com said $ 40,658 qualifies a household for the median Phoenix home. In Houston, $ 49,983 is enough. Even in Atlanta, a household making $ 35,580 has enough to afford the median-priced home. Most inland big cities are comfortably under $ 50,000.

Or look off-beat. The National Association of Home Builders has crowned its most affordable metro as Syracuse, New York, where it said 92.8 percent of all homes that sold in the fourth quarter of 2014 were affordable to families who earned the region’s median income of $ 67,700.

The numbers often tantalizing possibilities. If you are a telecommuter for a West Coast technology firm, “you could live like a king in Pittsburgh,” said HSH.com executive Keith Gumbiner. Real state website Zillow.com (Z) puts the Pittsburgh median price at $ 125,400. Bunk in Pittsburgh for a few years and, you know what, you just might save enough to buy that San Francisco home (median sale price: $ 951,000, according to real estate website Trulia).

Although, by the way, around one-third of San Francisco homes sell in all cash deals. Which is a blunt reminder of just how unaffordable the most desirable cities are becoming.